Texts and photos by Mahmoud Shabeeb, Regional Communications Officer for the Syria Crisis, CARE International.
Ghozlan, 10, was displaced with her family in Syria for one year before coming to Jordan in October 2012. The family spent two months in Zaa’tari refugee camp but was able to receive an official “bailout” after several family members encountered health problems including Ghozlan, who suffered from hepatitis. They moved to Amman, where Ghozlan spent another year out of school, instead working to provide for her family. In 2014, she was able to return to her studies, when she participated in CARE’s cash for education pilot program with which she has just finished her second year, doing her final exams last week.
“I worked for a year at a women’s salon from 1 until 7 pm, six days a week, making about $US 56 per month,” says Ghozlan. “When it was time for students to return home from school in the afternoon I used to stand at the door of the salon and watch girls in their school uniforms carrying their backpacks and going home together. It made me very sad. I was very happy to return to school. My favorite subjects are Arabic and mathematics, but my highest marks are in science and Arabic.”
Ghozlan is one of eight family members living in a small apartment on the outskirts of Amman. She helps her mother care for three other siblings, Khaled, eight, Jihan, seven, and Mousa, four months (pictured), her father who cannot provide for the family as he suffers from polio, an aunt with Down Syndrome, and her elderly grandmother.
“At the salon, I used to hand equipment to the hairdresser,” says Ghozlan. “And before going home I would sweep hair clippings on the floor. It was not a very difficult job and the customers sometimes gave me a tip for buying them things from the supermarket nearby, but I missed school nonetheless and wanted to go back. Grade four was a bit difficult for me especially at the beginning, but now school is much easier, I am able to understand all of the subjects better.”
Ghozlan’s younger brother and sister, Khaled and Jihan, both have just finished the second grade. They both love school, playing, and drawing and painting. “Like Ghozlan missed two years of school, Khaled missed one year,” says Samar, Ghozlan’s mother. “But thanks to the $US 100 that CARE and Al Yarmouk club have been helping us with every month; Ghozlan and her two siblings now go to school. Although this assistance was meant for Ghozlan to return to school, but it had a lot of impact on the entire family.”
Ghozlan also loves painting and drawing. She keeps many of her paintings that illustrate hopeful dreams in bright colors, several of which are related to her home in Dar’a, Syria. “When I grow up, I want to finish my studies and work as a school teacher,” explains Ghozlan. “I want to teach arts and drawing.”
Although walking a fairly long distance to school with her two younger siblings may be an added burden, for Ghozlan it is more of a joy. “I have two close friends who are Syrian refugee girls like me,” says Ghozlan. “They both live in the same building we live in, so we sometimes go to school and return together.”
Ibrahim, Ghozlan’s father is happy with this arrangement. “I can safely send my children to school now,” says Ibrahim. “If Ghozlan was not going to school, I wouldn’t have sent Khaled and Jihan by themselves. They are too young. Fortunately, things are different now and she can look out for her little siblings.”
As of the coming September Ghozlan will be benefiting from CARE’s cash for education program, for the third consecutive year, through CARE’s partner local organization “Al Yarmouk club”, where she attends remedial classes every summer holiday. “Ghozlan has just finished grade five, but she had missed two years which she skipped, jumping from grade one to grade four directly,” says Samar, Ghozlan’s mother. “She had clear weaknesses in some subjects, but thanks to the classes she took at Al Yarmouk club the gaps have been filled and she was able to catch up with her peers.”